To Say The Word Love
by PharaohsThrone
Summary: Yugi and Atem are forever stubborn about their feelings towards each other, but when their friend Joey steps in asking for advice, it gives them the extra push they need. Puzzleshipping and a hint of puppyshipping.


Yugi stared out the window watching the rain fall outside, it was quite a miserable day. He had hoped to go out and do something fun today, but the weather had disagreed. His thoughts wondered endlessly, and as usual, they moved to Atem. Now that the Pharaoh had his own body, Yugi didn't have to be careful with his thoughts any more. It was quite difficult back when their minds were linked to try and keep his feelings hidden. When you share a body with someone, its hard to keep anything from them at all. But Yugi had managed, and now he could think of Atem as much as he liked, but for what? To just sit around daydreaming of him and their adventures together, and how his feelings for the other would never be voiced. Yugi had accepted the fact that there was no way Atem would feel the same for him, so they stayed as close friends, and Yugi would get caught up in his thoughts every now and again, imagining what life would be like if the impossible happened. The TV he sat in front of started making loud noises at him. He turned back to the screen, having forgotten he was in the middle of a video game, and the screen showed the words 'GAME OVER'. Yugi groaned, dumping the game controller on the ground in front of him.

"Why am I so terrible at this game?" he asked himself, sitting back on the couch.

Atem chuckled, walking into the room with two mugs of hot cocoa. "Aibou, you haven't played that game in over a year." With all the chaos of the past year, Yugi had no time for video games. _Or more like I was distracted by thinking about him, _Yugi thought with a shake of his head. It was nice that Atem still called him that, it was habit, and why break a habit that you liked?

"Is something the matter?" Atem asked, handing Yugi one of the mugs.

"Hmm?" Yugi said, coming back to reality. "Oh, thanks," he took the mug from Atem and sipped at the warm liquid with a sigh. Atem decided to leave it be, and he sat on the couch next to his room mate. Yugi then picked up the controller, and held it out to Atem, "Here, you give it a try," he said.

"Me?" Atem asked, "But I've never played this game before," he blinked at the other boy. "I've only ever watched you and Joey play it."

"Never too late to learn," Yugi said with a grin.

Atem chuckled and placed his mug on the table beside him, "Well, I guess I could give it a try..." he took the controller and with Yugi's help, started a new game.

"Okay how do you walk forwards?" He asked, looking at the controller quizzically.

Yugi chuckled, moving closer to Atem so he could point at the controls, "Those arrows are how you move, those ones are your aim, and you press this button when you want to shoot," Yugi pointed it out.

Atem nodded and proceeded to move around the area, "And what exactly is the aim of this game?"

"To kill everyone," Yugi said simply. Atem raided his eyebrows, but continued to try and navigate his way through the game, much to Yugi's amusement.

"What's the red dot?" Atem asked, pointing to his radar.

"That means there's an enemy behind you, you have to shoot him!" Yugi said.

"How do I turn around again?"

Yugi face palmed, "The arrows on the left."

"Ah, right," Atem awkwardly turned his character around as the enemy started to attack him, and after raping the shoot button he managed to kill the foe. Atem looked at the bloody mess on the TV screen. "This game is violent," he said to Yugi.

"And Egypt wasn't?" Yugi asked.

Atem thought for a moment. "Good point," he said, continuing on with the game. As he kept moving, more enemies started to attack him, and Yugi sat and laughed as Atem attempted to destroy them, but he kept forgetting the controls. Eventually after many mistakes and curses at the TV screen, his character died. "There, I'm dead, are you happy now?" Atem asked, placing the controller down.

Yugi chuckled, "Well, I found someone who is worse at video games than I am," he grinned, and Atem simply picked up his mug of cocoa to take a sip from, but he furrowed his eyebrows.

"Now my cocoa has gone cold..." he stood up, "I'll be back, I'm making another one..." he left to go back to the kitchen just as Yugi heard someone walking in through the front door. He instantly recognised the voice of his other room mate.

"Stupid Kaiba," Joey grumbled, shaking the water out of his hair. He had failed to take an umbrella with him when he went out, and thus was drenched from the rain. He took off his shoes and trudged down the hallway, muttering to himself, "Thinks he's better than me and always has to be one step ahead of me, and at the same time has to be so god damn attra-" he stopped mid sentence when he walked into the living room, seeing Yugi sitting on the couch. "Oh, hi Yug."

"Hey Joey," Yugi said, getting up from the couch, "Why are you drenched?"

Joey looked down at himself, his clothes dripping water onto the floor. He then looked outside, "It's raining," he said with a shrug.

"Of course it's raining," Yugi said, "But you didn't take an umbrella with you, did you?"

"Nope, planning is not my thing," Joey said with a characteristic chuckle.

Yugi sighed, "stay there, I'll go get you a towel, I don't want you treading water all through the apartment..." Yugi walked past the kitchen, to see Atem sitting at the table with his new mug of cocoa, he appeared to have been distracted with the cartoons in the newspaper. Yugi smiled and shook his head, before heading over to the linen cupboard and grabbing a towel for Joey, as well as ducking into his friend's bedroom and grabbing some dry clothes for him. When he came back out to the living room, Joey was still standing in the puddle of water that his clothes had dripped onto the ground. Yugi rolled his eyes and handed the towel and clothes to him.

"Thanks bud," Joey said, pulling off his soaked shirt and pants and drying himself off. This was not uncommon for Joey, in the summer he would be known for walking around the apartment in his underwear. _What if Atem was like Joey, _Yugi mused, imagining the idea of The Pharaoh sharing Joey's clothing ideals. He blushed slightly, thinking of his scantily clad room mate marching around the apartment in his underwear, and chuckled to himself.

"What's so funny?" Joey asked, now pulling on the dry clothes Yugi had given to him.

"Oh, nothing," Yugi said, composing himself. He turned and headed back to the couch, plonking himself down on the cushions. When Joey was done, he walked over and joined his friend.

"You didn't sound very happy when you came in before," Yugi noted, sipping from his mug of cocoa, "Is something bothering you?"

Joey thought for a moment about his answer. The real answer was that something was indeed bothering him, but whether to tell Yugi or not was another question. He decided to compromise at half way.

"Well, yeah something has kinda been bothering me..." he said with a sigh. He figured that maybe Yugi could help him, but he wasn't going to mention who it was he had the problem with.

"What is it Joey?" Yugi asked.

"Well..." he wasn't quite sure how to voice his problem, then decided to just blurt it out, "How do you tell someone that you love them when you can barely have a decent conversation with them?"

Yugi was surprised by his question, "What do you mean?"

Joey didn't know how else to explain it, and he stood up as he ranted, pacing from side to side, "I mean he just frustrates me so much but for some reason I have these feelings and then he pisses me off and-argh!" Joey threw his hands into the air as he paced, before stopping dead in his tracks, realising what he had just said. _Dammit Joey, dead giveaway. _Yugi gave him a knowing smile. "Aw, man," Joey whined, dropping his hands to his sides and plonking himself back on the couch beside Yugi.

Yugi knew that Joey had been trying to with hold the identity of the person he was talking about, but failed to do so. "That's cute," he said finally, ruffling Joey's mildly damp hair.

Joey groaned, batting Yugi's hand away, "Can you help me or not?"

"What is it you need help with?" Atem asked, walking into the room. Joey sighed, _great now everyone will know._

Yugi spoke instead, "How would you tell someone that you love them?" Yugi asked him.

Atem was surprised by the question, and he walked over to sit across from them on the separate couch. "That's a good question..." he said. "Got your eye on someone, have you Joey?"

"Maybe..." Joey said, "so what would you do oh great Pharaoh?" he asked.

"Hmm..." Atem thought for a moment, "Well, I'm not quite accustomed to modern day proclamations of love..."

"Doesn't matter," Yugi said.

"Well alright then," Atem said, "I would probably just be honest with them, for a start. Weaseling your way around it wouldn't help."

"Yeah but how would you do it?" Joey asked.

"Well, it depends how creative you want to be, if you want it to be romantic or not and so on. I always thought it was stupid using your modern day technology for things such as this. Tell me, what use it is telling someone you love them over a text message?"

Joey and Yugi both shrugged, "Lots of people are too scared to do it in person I guess," Joey said.

"Well, I can understand _that_..." Atem said, idly eyeing Yugi's mug of cocoa that still hadn't been drunk. "But if it's not in person how can you get your feelings across?"

"Sounds like you've thought about this a lot already," Joey said with a chuckle.

Joey's comment caught Atem by surprise, "Well, I-uh, it's just everywhere these days so it's hard not to encounter it," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"I see..." Joey said, before turning to Yugi. "But how does that help me with Kaiba?" he asked miserably. "Half the time he's being absolutely gorgeous then the other half he frustrates me to now end!"

Atem raised an eyebrow, unaware that Joey had been talking about their dueling rival.

Joey waved a dismissive hand at him, "Never mind, I'll see if Tea can help me..." he stood up, walking towards his bedroom.

"Wait Joey," Yugi said, but he disappeared into the confines of his room. Yugi looked back to Atem, who looked to be troubled by something. "Everything alright?" he asked.

"Hmm?" Atem said, mirroring Yugi's behaviour previously. "Oh yes, I'm fine. Just a little tired is all." Yugi furrowed his eyebrows, but shrugged and stood up, taking his unfinished cocoa into the kitchen. As he was cleaning the mug in the sink, Joey walked back out of his room and into the kitchen.

"So when are you going to tell him?" he asked casually, opening the fridge.

"What?" Yugi dropped the mug into the sink, before quickly picking it up again, continuing to clean it although it was clean enough already, "Tell who what...?"

"You know what I'm talking about," Joey said with a grin, now leaning against the fridge, an apple in his hand. Yugi turned around to give him a confused look as he continued to clean the cup, and Joey motioned with his head to the living room where Atem was, and winked at him. Yugi paled, before turning back around so Joey couldn't see the blush starting to come to his cheeks.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, scrubbing frantically at the mug.

"Oh come on," Joey said, taking a bite out of his apple, "I've seen the way you look at him, I can tell."

"_Joey-_"

"Why don't you tell him?" He pestered.

"Because there's nothing to tell," Yugi said, still not facing his friend.

"Then why have you been cleaning the same cup for the past 5 minutes?" Joey asked. Yugi stopped, looking down at the mug in his hands. He then sighed, dropping it into the sink. _Joey was honest with me, the least I can do is be honest with him, _he thought.

"Because..." Yugi turned around, "because you're right..." Joey grinned. "We are not having this conversation here, Joey. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go for a walk." Yugi turned and walked out of the kitchen.

Atem was finally pulled out of his thoughts when Yugi walked into the room, going straight past him as if he wasn't even there.

"You know it's still raining outside, right?" Joey called from the kitchen.

"I don't care," Yugi said, walking down the front entrance. When Atem heard the front door click shut, he stood up and walked into the kitchen, where Joey was still eating his apple. He knew that something had happened in the kitchen, but all he had heard was a loud thump and hushed voices.

"What's the matter with Yugi?" Atem asked, standing at the door as Joey gnawed on his apple.

Joey thought for a moment, wondering what to say. "You should go ask him," he said finally. Atem was slightly confused, but decided to do as Joey said, so he turned and headed for the front door. When he walked into the entrance way he stopped and glared at Joey's wet clothes still sitting on the floor, then without another thought, walked out the door and into the rain. _If I were Yugi, where would I go? _He thought to himself, holding his arm above his head as he tried to stop the rain from falling in his eyes. He looked around, before spotting a figure over in the park next to their apartment. _I wouldn't go anywhere, _he thought with a smile. He set off towards the park as the rain continued to fall at a decent pace. It wasn't very heavy rain, only lightly soaking Atem's clothes as he walked. He spotted Yugi sitting on a bench facing the away from him, and walked over, standing behind him.

"You're going to get a cold if you stay out here for too long," Atem said, placing a hand on Yugi's shoulder.

Surprised, Yugi spun around, already knowing who it was. "You scared me," he said, "How come you walk so lightly that I can never hear you coming?"

Atem smiled, sitting down next to him, "Well, being Pharaoh you need to walk like one, and that means learning how to walk lightly, it looks more...well elegant isn't the right word but that's all I can think of at the moment."

Yugi chuckled, before looking out at the small lake in front of them, filled with ducks and other animal life.

"So what brought you out here?" Atem asked.

Yugi sighed, "I just needed some fresh air and a place to think," he said.

Atem then felt bad for disturbing him, "I can leave if you'd like-"

"No, stay. Please," Yugi said, giving him an encouraging smile. Atem nodded, and they sat in silence for a moment or two. It wasn't awkward, it was a comfortable silence, as the two of them simply enjoyed their peaceful surroundings. They had both been ignoring the rain, pattering down around them, slowly soaking their clothes. They'd probably look just like Joey did when they get home. Thinking of Joey, Atem was reminded of their conversation before, and his earlier thoughts plagued his mind. He hadn't realised it, but when Joey and Yugi left he just sat on the couch, lost in his own thoughts. He hadn't noticed until Yugi came back into the room several minutes later. His thoughts were conflicted though, he was doing the complete opposite to what he told Joey to do. And if you couldn't take your own advice, then what did that make you? He silently admitted it to himself with a sigh, he wasn't being honest with Yugi, and they never kept anything from each other. He noticed that Yugi was also lost in his thoughts, a strained expression on his face as he stared at his shoes.

"Everything alright?" Atem asked, looking over at him.

Yugi hadn't quite heard him, "Hmm? Oh, yeah I'm fine."

_I can tell that you aren't, Aibou, _Atem thought. "You know you can tell me anything, right?" he said.

"Of course," Yugi said.

"Then what is it that you're hiding from me?" he asked.

Yugi had no idea what to say to this, as he feared having to tell Atem what had been bothering him, so he said the first thing he thought of, "What is it _you're_ hiding from _me_?"

Atem was surprised by his retort, but he had a good point. He sighed, "We can't be keeping things from each other like this," he said.

Yugi twiddled his thumbs, "Then what is it you're hiding?" he asked, sounding slightly worried.

"Alright, I'll tell you, " Atem sighed, and thought for a moment, trying to figure out how to say it. _Now I see why using a phone is easier, _he thought to himself. "I guess all I can do is be honest with you, after all if I can't take my own advice then there must be something wrong with me."

Yugi was confused, "What are you talking about?"

Atem closed his eyes, mentally whining. _Just say it and it can be over and done with, it doesn't have to change anything, just as long as he knows...But how the hell do I say it? _

"Well, um, for quite a while now I've...uh..." _God this is harder than I thought. _"Well I've...started to...um..." He sighed, giving up on his sentence, "I'm terrible at this," he admitted, running his hands through his hair. He could feel his heat beat in his chest, beating much faster than normal. _Why is it so hard to say those few words? _Yugi was still looking at him quizzically. "Look, there's only one thing I want to do right now," Atem said finally.

"And what's that?" Yugi asked.

Grabbing all the courage he had inside him, Atem said, "This," and without a second thought, he leaned in, pressing his lips against Yugi's in a soft kiss. Yugi hadn't known what to expect, but this certainly wasn't it. He sat there in shock for a moment, before his brain finally caught up with him and did a backflip in excitement. He smiled and returned the kiss as his heart fluttered in his chest. Atem was even more surprised when Yugi kissed back, and he smiled also, wrapping his arms around Yugi's waist and pulling him closer. So they sat there, embracing each other as they kissed, a wave of feelings that had been locked away for far too long. The rain fell down on top of them as their wet clothes clung to each other, and somewhere in the distance, they could hear Joey calling out to them, something about 'I told you so'. They didn't care though, they were lost in the moment, of the feeling of holding the other close, their lips locked in a passionate kiss. Finally, after a few minutes, they pulled out, almost breathless. Atem's smile could have warmed Yugi's heart in the coldest of conditions, and right now it may as well have been the sun.

"I've wanted to do that for so long," Atem said, still smiling, "You have no idea."

Yugi smiled, shaking his head, half for being silly enough to think Atem didn't return his feelings, and half at the other's comment. "Then what took you so long?" he asked with a playful smirk.

Atem chuckled, "You heard Joey, it's much too frightening," he said, "I bet I looked like a fool before," he said insecurely, looking down at his hands.

Yugi grabbed his hand with a smile, "You didn't look like a fool, trust me."

Atem returned the smile, "So what was it that you were hiding from me?" he asked, although he was sure he already knew the answer.

Yugi thought for a moment, before saying, "This," and in one swift motion, he pulled Atem towards him, kissing him once again.


End file.
